Recently, I got into the hobby of building model kits. I was astounded by and very interested in the varied and incredibly detailed designs that could be found throughout the Mobile Suit Gundam series. This artwork features a personal favorite design, Gundam Schwarzette, designed by mechanical designer Ippei Gyoubu.
Inspired by Gyoubu's own artwork, I wanted this art piece to use very dramatic and heavy shading. I started by building, posing, and photographing a model kit of the Schwarzette. I then traced the edges of the parts from the photo in a digital drawing. From there, I moved on to blocking in basic colors. After that, I laid out a quick sketch of where I wanted shading and highlights to be.
After experimenting with a few different styles of shading, I created this style I used in the artwork that emulates fading light without using any gradients by having the shading and highlights taper out and dissolve into thin lines.
After the primary shading was complete, I also added purple lights, and reflected highlights from those to the artwork, also including a version of the artwork that has those lights off.
I enjoyed making this art very much, and I believe working with mecha as a subject, which I don't work with often, has improved my artistic ability, and it's something I would like to continue to work with and improve in the future.
A time lapse of creating the artwork is included below.
